Down-Payment Assistance Success!

In the Greater Sacramento area, it is a brutal multiple offer market out there for the buyers that are maxed out at $275,000.00. I have had buyers that wanted to write offers on properties that had any where from eight to twenty two offers per home!

I am known among my peers as the “Calhfa Girl” because so many of my buyers are 1st time Homebuyers that are using Down-Payment Assistance (DAP) financing. Due to the lack of familiarity with this financing, many Listing Agents are terrified of DAP offers. A Down-Payment Assistance offer also indicates that the borrower has limited funds so this is a red flag that there could be additional challenges during the escrow period when it comes to repairs, appraisal, etc.

When I first begin Real Estate, I made a commitment to help every person I could and promised myself to never get caught up in “chasing a paycheck.” It seems many great people make poor decisions when it comes to money. Many of my fellow Realtors have told me that they write offers without disclosing the Assistance and hope that the Listing Agent does not ask them for “proof of funds.” But with my commitment to my value system, I have always chosen to disclose upfront to the Seller on the RPA (Residential Purchase Agreement) that my buyer is using Down-Payment Assistance.

I wrote an offer this week for my Buyer who had fallen in love with a beautiful investor flipped home! This house was perfect for my buyer in every way. Once again I found myself writing a Calhfa offer on a home with multiple offers. I did my typical routine of disclosing my buyer’s financing, submitting the offer with a cover (motivation) letter from the buyer decked out in cute family photos, explaining in detail why we were confident we would close the loan and including a link to Calhfa’s turn around times.

Much to my dismay, the Listing Agent called our lender and shared that they would not accept a Calhfa because of the terrible experience they were having as they were currently on Day 60 of a 30 day Calhfa escrow with a buyer on a different property the seller owned. I knew my buyer would be devastated to hear this news. Many people commented things like “She just needs to save her money and try again when she doesn’t have to use assistance.” and “Well, Calhfa’s just don’t get accepted in today’s market.”

I refused to take “no” for an answer and we sprang into action! I reached out to another Listing Agent that we closed a Calhfa loan on the past several months, shared my situation and asked for permission to list them as a reference. I sent an email to the Listing Agent on the property and acknowledged their concerns. I provided them a statement of why their experience with us will be different and then I gave them property information from the MLS including days in escrow and a list of former Listing Agents (contact information) that could be used as references. We submitted this last attempt to save our chances and crossed our fingers.

I received the following email back:

“Cara,

I appreciate you elaborating further on our concerns. It helps reassure us that you and your team are capable and competent of closing quickly with Calhfa.” This was accompanied with the fully executed contract and my buyer got the house!

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A couple of Realtors have questioned my emphasis on reaching Millennials when it comes to marketing. So I wanted to address why we feel this is so important. Keep in mind the following:

National Association of Realtors reports that Millennial’s are powering the Housing Market recovery as they become the largest group of Home Buyers (34%).

Over 90% of people are reported to search online first for products and services.

In summary, how important is online marketing, video and technology? It’s absolutely vital that we as Real Estate Professionals utilize the latest technology available in our marketing and communication so that we can meet the largest segment of home buyers (Millennials) on their turf . . . online.

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